Tucker Carlson has come out with a bombshell claim that the CIA read his text messages leading up to the war with Iran to pin him as a double agent.
The former Fox News presenter, now operating independently via his online Tucker Carlson Show, says he’s being lined up for prosecution after what he describes as a CIA-driven push to involve the Department of Justice.
In a video posted to X on Saturday (March 14), Carlson alleged that officials are trying to label him an unregistered foreign agent for Iran, claiming his private communications were accessed and then used to build a narrative against him.
He suggested the messages in question predate the February 28 missile strikes by the US and Israel on Iran, with the fighting continuing since then and spilling into nearby regions.
He pointed to developments including Israeli strikes in Lebanon, along with Iranian attacks on the United Arab Emirates and other neighboring states.
Carlson, who has been closely tracking Donald Trump’s leadership and the conflict, says his criticism of the government’s approach to Iran is being reframed as evidence that he is acting on behalf of the Iranian regime—something he denies.
He also noted that his relationship with the MAGA movement has publicly deteriorated, and that Trump has attacked him after Carlson left Fox News and began voicing more dissenting views on foreign policy, including opposition to the strikes on Iran.
“Tucker has lost his way. I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA,” Trump said in an interview with ABC News earlier this month.
“MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that,” he added.
Describing what he believes is happening behind the scenes, Carlson said in his clip: “The CIA is preparing some kind of criminal referral against me, a crime report to the Department of Justice, on the basis of a supposed crime I committed.
“What’s that crime? Well, talking to people in Iran before the war. They [the CIA] read my texts.”
He said he could be investigated or charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (1938), which requires individuals acting at the direction of foreign governments or entities—particularly in exchange for compensation—to register with the DOJ.
Despite that, Carlson insists he has no connection to Iranian state interests, saying: “I’m not an agent of a foreign power. Unlike a lot of people commenting on US politics and global affairs, I have only one loyalty and that’s the United States and have never acted against it.”
“Don’t need it, don’t want it,” Carlson added, arguing that his outreach to sources in Iran was part of standard reporting.
“It’s my job to talk to everybody all the time and try to figure out what’s happening around the world,” he said. “I’m an American. I can talk to anybody.”
“There are some people who are mad at me for my views about Israel,” Carlson added.